Peter Morici: S&P suit is bad for business, bad for democracy

7:08 PM,
Feb. 11, 2013

Peter Morici

Written by

Peter Morici
Baltimore Sun

The Justice Department is accusing Standard & Poor's of defrauding investors with optimistic ratings of mortgage-backed securities and derivatives before the financial crisis. While investors are entitled to answers about those conflicts, compensation and reforms, Attorney General Eric Holder and President Obama, by singling out S&P instead of other bond raters, appear to be engaging in political vengeance and put freedom of speech at risk.

In 2011, S&P, Moody's and Fitch were accused by a Senate committee of giving overly rosy ratings on mortgage-backed securities in the years ...